Can Garlic Really Play a Role in Determining Fertility?

The first-ever fertility test was invented by ancient Egyptian doctors and consisted of inserting a clove of garlic in a woman’s vagina. If, the following morning, the woman had garlicky bad breath, she was declared fertile. This archaic test, which dates back to 1500 BC, actually allowed for testing the tubal patency of the fallopian tubes.

The details of this practice can be found in the medical papyrus entitled “Carlsberg Papyrus” scripted by Champollion himself. Centuries later, Hippocrates re-introduced this technique with the following instructions “Clean and peel a garlic clove,insert in pessary, and wait until the next morning to ascertain if the woman has bad breath; if so, she will conceive, if not, she won’t”. Hysterosalpingography is now used to detect tubal sterility.